cohabitationhttp://www.ekklesia.co.uk/taxonomy/term/137/all
enWelcome diverse families, Catholic synod urgeshttp://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/20942
<p><a href="http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/20942" target="_blank">read more</a></p>Community and FamilyReligion and SocietySex and GenderNews BriefcohabitationdivorceinclusivityLGBTpope francisroman catholic churchsame sex marriagesynod on the familyBlogTue, 14 Oct 2014 21:16:06 +0000Savi Hensman20942 at http://www.ekklesia.co.ukData shows continuing changes to marriage and society in the UKhttp://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/9145
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<p>New data from the Office of National Statistics shows that by 2031 three out of five adults in Britain may be unmarried. The shift reflects significant changes in social and family structure.</p>
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<p>By 2031, three out of five adults in Britain may be unmarried, say forecasters extrapolating from data compiled by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The shift reflects significant changes in social and family structure. </p>
<p>Married couples could make up 41 per cent of the over-16 population in twenty years time. The figure is 49 per cent now. Single people, divorcees, lone parents and cohabiting couples will outnumber them.</p>
<p>But the majority of people will still be in committed relationships of one kind or another. Cohabiters are projected to rise from 4.5 million to 7.4 million.</p>
<p>However, it is predicted that the fastest-growing group will be those who remain single. </p>
<p>Some commentators are suggesting that the decline in legally sanctioned marriage that began some decades ago will reduce it to the status of “a minority lifestyle” but others say this is an alarmist and selective interpretation.</p>
<p>There are at present some 21.7 million married people in England and Wales, compared with 14.9 million adults who have never married. Four million people are divorcees and three million are widowed.</p>
<p>The ONS states: “There were 270,000 weddings in the UK in 2007, a fall of 2.7 per cent since 2006. Marriages registered in England and Wales fell by 3.3 per cent in 2007 to 231,450, which is the lowest number of marriages since 1895 (228,204). In Scotland, marriages decreased slightly from 29,898 in 2006 to 29,866 in 2007, while in Northern Ireland marriages increased 5 per cent to 8,687. The long-term picture for UK weddings is one of decline from a peak of 480,285 marriages in 1972.</p>
<p>“In England and Wales, the number of unmarried adults rose in 2007, but the number who chose to marry fell, producing the lowest rates since marriages were first calculated in 1862. In 2007, the marriage rate for men was 21.6 men marrying per 1,000 unmarried men aged 16 and over, down from 23.0 in 2006. The marriage rate for women in 2007 was 19.7 women marrying per 1,000 unmarried women aged 16 and over, down from 20.7 in 2006.</p>
<p>“The number of marriages in England and Wales that were the first for both partners peaked in 1940 at 426,100 when 91 per cent of all marriages were the first for both partners. This number has since fallen to 143,440 in 2007, accounting for 62 per cent of all marriages.</p>
<p>“Remarriages rose by about a third between 1971 and 1972, following the introduction of the Divorce Reform Act 1969 in England and Wales and then levelled off. In 2007, 88,010 marriages were remarriages for one or both parties, accounting for 38 per cent of all marriages.</p>
<p>“Since 1992 there have been more civil ceremonies in England and Wales than religious ceremonies. In 2007, civil ceremonies accounted for 67 per cent of all ceremonies which is an increase from 61 per cent in 1997.”</p>
<p>In a little over twenty years there could be 22.1 million people who have never married – 42 per cent of the adult population – against 21.6 million husbands and wives.</p>
<p>Anastasia de Waal, author of Second Thoughts on the Family, published in May 2008, commented: “Many more are living at home with their parents, which is a bit of a killer for romance. Others are living far from their work and find it difficult to meet people.”</p>
<p>Her book acknowledged the trends confirmed by the latest Office of National Statistics data, but she argued that marriage was “not so much out of fashion but out of reach” for those feeling the economic pinch and not in secure employment.</p>
<p>Researchers also point out that while people are living in a greater diversity of family, kinship and friendship-based relationships these days, the decision to commit permanently, though receding, is still the goal that a majority of people.</p>
<p>Lesbian and gay people are also arguing that their partnerships should be given the full status of marriage as in South Africa, some parts of the USA and six European nations, including Sweden from May 2009.</p>
<p>Simon Barrow, co-director of the religion and society think-tank Ekklesia, said that it was important not to rush to “alarmist” conclusions about the latest ONS data, but rather to invest in supporting relationships, to recognise extended and informal families as well as nuclear ones and to re-visit the nature of marriage in the light of changing social and religious patterns.</p>
<p>“The vast majority of people – whether religious or otherwise – recognise that stable, faithful, loving, just and lasting relationships are crucial for the health of society and the nurturing of children,” he said. “We need to build on that and offer practical support and example. Official agencies, community organisations, charities, faith groups, schools and families all have a role to play. </p>
<p>“The key issue is to look at how people can be helped to respond to the intense pressures they are under in modern life – from economic insecurity and consumerism right through to false expectations about romance and desire disconnected from the tough work of commitment.</p>
<p>“It is important not to be seduced by simple headlines about marriage and family. These days, more people are committing to relationships because they want to, not because they are coerced. Equality between the sexes is rightly encouraged. Abusive relationships are being challenged. Civil partnerships are being entered into. We need to look at what is healthy as well as harmful in the changes we see taking place,” said Barrow.</p>
<p>Campaigners say that addressing unemployment, economic inequality, poor education, social alienation and child poverty are vital to supporting families. People who are poor and without regular income are more likely to be unmarried or separated.</p>
<p>In 2006, Ekklesia called for a radical reconsideration of the meaning of marriage, both on the part of the state and general society and in faith communities. It says that the ONS-reported growth of civil ceremonies and the decline in religious ones, as well as the social challenges to the inherited family structures reinforce this need.</p>
<p>In its ‘What Future for Marriage?’ report, the think-tank said that the legal-contractual function of the civic authorities and the spiritual role of blessing and supporting relationships in the church are too easily confused and argued that consideration should be given to a variety of recognised civil partnerships through which couples could specify the type of legal commitment they wished to make to one another – with the churches and others being free to decide how to respond to them.</p>
<p>This is similar to the kind of pattern adopted in other parts of Europe, including those where gay marriage has been legally recognised. </p>
<p>The report said: “This would allow both civic and religious authorities autonomy in decision-making, would avoid people having to make vows they do not believe in [,] and would encourage couples to think more seriously about the kind of commitment they wanted to enter into, and the consequences of this for others.”</p>
<p><em>See:</em> Ekklesia, ‘What Future for Marriage?’ - <a href="http://tinyurl.com/dydqee" title="http://tinyurl.com/dydqee">http://tinyurl.com/dydqee</a> </p>
<p>Office of National Statistics on marriage in the UK, 1951-2007 - <a href="http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=322" title="http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=322">http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=322</a></p>
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<!-- google_ad_section_end -->Community and FamilyNews BriefcohabitationdivorceFamilyfamily valuesmarriagemarriage abolitionmarriage lawUK NewsFri, 03 Apr 2009 21:01:30 +0000staff writers9145 at http://www.ekklesia.co.ukUniversity moves to ban civil partnerships on campushttp://www.ekklesia.co.uk/news/uk/070206uni
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<p>The heads of a university closely aligned to the Church of England plan to ban civil partnership ceremonies on campus.</p>
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<p>The heads of a university closely aligned to the Church of England plan to ban civil partnership ceremonies on campus. </p>
<p>The vice-chancellor, chair of governors and deputy pro-chancellor of Canterbury Christ Church University argue that the Church's position on homosexuality makes it wrong to conduct the ceremonies on the university's premises, reports Jessica Shepherd for the Guardian newspaper.</p>
<p>They want governors of the university, whose chancellor is the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, to change the institution's policy at their meeting next month.</p>
<p>The news comes after some Christians failed in a bid to gain opt-outs from new equality regulations, which sought to allow Christians to withhold goods and services from gay and lesbian people.</p>
<p>Canterbury Christ Church currently offers its premises for civil marriages at its campuses in Canterbury and Tunbridge Wells. From spring 2007, new legislation will forbid institutions licensed for civil marriage ceremonies to refuse to conduct civil partnership ceremonies. </p>
<p>The university's plans have incensed academics and students, who say a ban would flout the institution's equal opportunities policy and damage its reputation. Representatives of the lecturers' union, the student union and Amicus, which represents private and public sector workers, have called on the vice-chancellor, Professor Michael Wright, the pro-chancellor and chair of governors, Bishop Stephen Venner, and the deputy pro-chancellor, Peter Hermitage, to retract their plans immediately or resign.</p>
<p>In a letter to staff and students, seen by Education Guardian, the vice-chancellor writes: "The university's governing body is currently considering its policy on using the university's premises for civil partnership ceremonies.</p>
<p>"When the law changed in 2005 to permit same-sex partners to register their relationship, the Church of England welcomed this as a means by which people in such relationships could publicly express it, and have it regulated by law. It was said that a civil partnership was not to be regarded as a marriage.</p>
<p>"At that time, the chairman of the university's governing body, Bishop Stephen Venner, and I decided that we would follow the church's position in this matter, ie, welcome the concept of civil partnership but not regard it as equivalent to a marriage. However, legislation due to come into force in April 2007 makes it clear that venues such as the university, which offer their premises for civil marriages, must also do so for civil partnership ceremonies." Wright stresses that the university would continue to "welcome people irrespective of their faith, gender, sexual orientation or ethnicity".</p>
<p>Tony Booth, a professor of education at Canterbury Christ Church and an equality representative for the local lecturers' union, says: "We abhor the decision not to allow civil partnerships to take place on university premises. We call on the vice-chancellor, the pro-chancellor and deputy pro-chancellor to allow premises to be used for civil partnerships as well as marriages with immediate effect, or resign." Booth claims the university's equality and diversity committee has unanimously agreed that a ban is discriminatory and breaks the university's equal opportunities policy.</p>
<p>He says academics believe a "secret decision" was taken between senior management to ban gay ceremonies in December 2005, when the Civil Partnership Act came into force.</p>
<p>In a background note to a meeting of the university's governing body on December 5, Venner, the Bishop of Dover, admits that he, the vice-chancellor and the deputy pro-chancellor discussed the matter. He writes that they "decided not to permit such celebrations to take place on university premises" but that parties following a civil partnership ceremony could take place on campus.</p>
<p>Venner writes: "The government of the UK has been consulting about a new piece of legislation that would forbid individuals and institutions from refusing to celebrate civil partnerships. Religious organisations, including the mainstream Christian denominations, have acknowledged the reasons for government pursuing this line, but have sought, even demanded, exemption.</p>
<p>"To demand that churches, for example, be made available and ministers forced to celebrate such partnerships would be precisely an infringement of their religious freedom ... Government gave assurances that they did not intend to introduce same-sex marriage by another name. Subsequently the situation changed and government spokespersons have undermined their official line."</p>
<p>University leaders acknowledge that it is not part of the Church of England, but is aligned to it. Venner said: "Canterbury Christ Church University contains the words 'Canterbury' and 'Christ Church' and we must recognise their iconic status in the Anglican Communion, in England, in ecumenical relationships, and among other church-related institutions of higher education across the world ... Decisions made by the university can and maybe will reflect upon the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishop of Dover and the vice-chancellor and some of the governors who are members of the church of England."</p>
<p>The national lecturers' union, the University and College Union, has condemned the proposed ban. Its head of equality and employment rights, Roger Kline, says: "Christ Church governors' decision will astound the rest of higher education and will bring the institution into disrepute. There is no justification whatsoever for this reactionary decision. "Canterbury Christ Church's student union president, Robert Thorburn, says students are "shocked" and are signing a petition against the ban.</p>
<p>Canterbury Christ Church is one of 11 higher education institutions closely aligned with the Church of England. Others include the University of Gloucestershire, the University of Chester and Liverpool Hope University. Gloucestershire's director of student services, Paul Drake, says his university has "no plans to turn down any request for a civil partnership ceremony from its staff or students". Liverpool Hope and Chester say they do not have licences to conduct civil ceremonies on their campuses.</p>
<p>Due to the historical alignment of church and state, marriage ceremonies conducted in churches have for centuries had an automatic legal status. However with the advent of civil partnerships, and suggestions of new rights for civil partnerships, the desirability of such a link has been called into question.</p>
<p>The think-tank Ekklesia has urged a clearer separation between marriage and civil partnership ceremonies on the one hand, and the legal contract of marriage or civil partnership on the other. It has been suggested that churches could hold ceremonies for couples who would then decide on the legal status that they wanted their relationship to have.</p>
<p>Solicitor Katharine Landells, who has written a book on civil partnerships, says at the moment Canterbury Christ Church University is within its legal rights not to conduct civil partnerships because it is a private organisation.</p>
<p>But she says that the university will have to choose between conducting all civil marriages - gay and heterosexual - or none at all, if legislation comes into force that forbids institutions licensed for civil marriage ceremonies to refuse to conduct civil partnerships without an opt-out clause for religious organisations.</p>
<p>"The government has come to the decision that it will not allow an opt-out clause for Catholic adoption agencies when it comes to placing children with gay couples, so it seems unlikely that universities aligned with the church will be entitled to an opt-out over civil partnerships," says Landells.</p>
<p>The Church of England has declined to comment on the proposed ban until the university's governing body has made its final decision. The office of the Archbishop of Canterbury also declined to comment.</p>
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<!-- google_ad_section_end -->Community and FamilyNews BriefcanterburyChrist Church Universitycivil partnershipscohabitationmarriagetony boothUK NewsuniversitiesuniversityTue, 06 Feb 2007 12:07:00 +0000staff writers601 at http://www.ekklesia.co.ukCall to Abolish Legal Marriages - BBC Online 17th June 2006http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/mediacentre/pressarchive/060617-bbcnewsonline
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<div class="field-item">BBC Reports on Ekklesia‚Äôs proposals regarding marriage</div>
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</div>Community and Familycivil partnershipscohabitationdivorcedivorce lawmarriagemarriage lawMedia CentreWeb ArchiveSat, 17 Jun 2006 15:14:45 +0000Jonathan Bartley71 at http://www.ekklesia.co.ukScrap marriage, says Christian group - Daily Telegraph 17th June 2006http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/mediacentre/pressarchive/060617-telegraph
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<div class="field-item">Ekklesia suggests marriage law should be abolished and replaced by a variety of civil partnerships.</div>
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</div>Community and Familycivil partnershipscohabitationdivorcemarriagemarriage lawMedia CentrePress ArchiveSat, 17 Jun 2006 14:48:19 +0000Jonathan Bartley68 at http://www.ekklesia.co.ukWhat Future for Marriage?http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/futureofmarriage
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<div class="field-item"><p>In recent years the Christian churches have set great stall by ‘family values’ and the institution of marriage. Yet the form of marriage we know as such today is a relatively late invention out of something that once had much more to do with solidifying dynastic power. And most commentators agree that it is going through a tough time – with more people choosing not to marry, opting to forge different (often informal) partnerships, and getting divorced in increasing numbers. This paper sets out a fresh approach, which proposes changing the law on marriage in its current form to distinguish between civic and religious unions.</p>
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<div class="field-item"><a href="/user/3" title="View user profile.">Simon Barrow</a></div>
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Community and FamilyReligion and SocietySex and Genderabolish marriagecivil partnershipscohabitationdivorceequal marriagegay marriagemarriagemarriage lawResearchsame-sex marriageFri, 16 Jun 2006 18:27:14 +0000Jonathan Bartley90 at http://www.ekklesia.co.ukArchbishop wrong on cohabitees‚Äô rights says Christian think-tankhttp://www.ekklesia.co.uk/mediacentre/pressreleases/120606marr
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<div class="field-item"><p>The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has been challenged about his view that the extension of legal rights to cohabiting couples may undermine the institution of marriage.</p>
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</div>Community and Familycivil partnershipscohabitationmarriagemarriage lawMedia CentrePress ReleasesMon, 12 Jun 2006 15:34:08 +0000Press Office260 at http://www.ekklesia.co.uk